An Arrest, Then Questions: Ex-MedicAlert Worker Had Record, Was Hired Anyway
By Ken Carlson, The Modesto Bee, Calif.
Sep. 1–Andrea Terry, a MedicAlert employee who was arrested last week on suspicion of sending 10,000 patient records to her personal e-mail account, has prior criminal convictions and a history of taking narcotic drugs from hospitals where she previously worked, court records show.
Terry, 43, had gone from being a nurse who ducked into hospital restrooms to inject herself with morphine to six years of stable employment with MedicAlert before she was arrested Aug. 22 at her Oakdale home. Her work his-tory raises questions about the ability of health care organizations to obtain information about the people they hire.
Terry, who was booked in jail on a felony charge of unauthorized access to a computer system or network, posted bail and is awaiting a court date.
Authorities still are seeking a forensic analysis of her computer and Yahoo account to find out whether confidential patient information moved beyond her e-mail account or whether other people had access to it. Turlock police and the Sacramento Valley Hi-Tech Crimes Task Force are handling the investigation.
Reached by telephone Friday, Terry said patient confidentiality never was jeopardized, but she refused to comment further.
“I’d love to tell you the ins and outs of what happened, but I’m in a position where I really shouldn’t say anything until I have an attorney,” she said. “I’m still in the process of choosing an attorney.”
Terry was the call center manager for MedicAlert, a medical information serv-ice for members who wear bracelets or pendants warning of their chronic health conditions. Emergency personnel can get patient histories by calling the 24-hour hot line.
MedicAlert dismissed her on May 8, and she was hired back as a consultant May 29. She was given notice Aug. 15 that her contract would not be renewed.
The registered nurse has prior criminal convictions and lost her jobs with three previous hospital employers for diverting narcotic medications from patients for her personal use, records show. She then was known by her maiden name, Andrea Boyles, and her troubles are detailed in court documents and a state Board of Registered Nursing investigation conducted when she worked for Doctors Medical Center of Modesto in 1999.
According to records, she admitted to nursing board investigators in 1999 that she took drugs from Lodi Memorial Hospital, where she worked from April 1993 to July 1994, and did the same when employed as an intensive care nurse at Oak Valley Hospital in Oakdale from May 1995 to October 1997.
The investigation determined she continued to steal drugs such as Demerol and morphine when she worked for Doctors Medical Center from December 1997 to June 1999. According to the nursing board investigation, she falsified patient records to draw the narcotics from hospital supplies. Instead of giving the drugs to patients, she removed the medication from sealed tubes, replacing it with water, or would take syringes filled with painkillers into a restroom to inject herself in the hip.
Supervisors took action
Her supervisors at DMC confronted Terry after noting she was drawing pain medication for patients who didn’t need it or were getting smaller doses from other staff. Terry eventually confessed to hospital managers that she had a drug problem, and the hospital asked the state nursing board to investigate.
According to records, she told investigators she started using the narcotic drugs at Lodi Memorial, and diverted drugs from patients as soon as she went to work for Oak Valley. The Lodi hospital fired Terry over the drug issue, and she resigned in lieu of termination from Oak Valley.
In February 2000, the nursing board turned over the case to the Stanislaus County district attorney for criminal prosecution. Terry pleaded guilty in June 2000 to one felony count of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud. Five other felony counts of illegally obtaining controlled substances were dropped in a plea deal.
Judge Donald Shaver sentenced her to 60 days in jail and probation. Terry surrendered her nursing license to the state in August 2000.
Terry also has a misdemeanor conviction on her record. On Oct. 29, 1997, five days after she was forced to resign at Oak Valley Hospital, she broke into the animal shelter in Oakdale, took a Rottweiler and freed other animals. Later that night, she returned to the shelter out of concern for the dogs she had set loose.
Police officers who responded to the break-in arrested her on charges of burglary, vandalism and driving while intoxicated with alcohol. She pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts in April 1998. She was fined $1,100 and put on three years probation.
Despite her work history and legal troubles, Terry was able to get a job with MedicAlert in August 2001. Paul Kortschak, chief executive officer of MedicAlert, gave the same response as another former employer when asked about Terry on Friday. He said all employees undergo a background check and Terry never raised any flags.
“We had no indication in the past that there was any grievance or concern or any reason to re-examine her,” he said.
Terry was hired when the foundation was managed by a previous CEO. MedicAlert was embroiled in controversy two years ago when its former chief financial officer and her husband were convicted of embezzlement. The foundation’s former chief executive officer, Tanya Glazebrook, initially was implicated, but charges were dropped.
In the past few years, Terry appeared to have made strides in getting her life back on an even keel. In 2004, the court granted her request to expunge the felony conviction because she had completed probation.
Terry petitioned the nursing board in 2005 to reinstate her nursing license, saying she had been sober for six years. She also produced complimentary letters from her bosses at MedicAlert. The board reinstated her license on a probationary basis last year.
Heidi Goodman, assistant executive officer for the nursing board, said this week that the board is aware of Terry’s arrest last week and is investigating. As a condition of reinstating her license, Terry was supposed to obey all federal, state and local laws.
Terry’s history raises questions about how she could go from one health care employer to another without red flags being raised.
Carin Von Latta, a spokes-woman for Doctors Medical Center, said there were no restrictions on Terry’s nursing license when she was hired. She said personnel records show the hospital talked with her previous employers.
“When it was found out there was an issue with (her drug use), the hospital notified the appropriate agency and I think that is what’s important,” Von Latta said.
The state nursing board’s charges against Terry and the surrender of her license became part of her disciplinary record in 2000, several months after she stopped working for DMC. Those records would have been available to anyone checking Terry’s background for MedicAlert. Today, detailed information about disciplinary actions often is available on the California Board of Registered Nursing Web site.
Oak Valley Hospital officials said this week they had no memory of Terry.
Information hard to obtain
Nancy Oliva was interim executive officer for Oak Valley Hospital when Terry worked at the 35-bed hospital. She recalled that Terry was let go and that Terry filed a wrongful termination suit against Oak Valley, which the court later dismissed.
Oliva, who now is doing a doctoral dissertation at the University of California at San Francisco, said hospitals routinely check whether prospective employees have a record of disciplinary action with the state nursing board. Often, they are not given much information when they call previous employers, she said.
“There are privacy issues and also a fear of litigation,” she said. “There is little that human resources departments will disclose about former employees. I know a number of hospitals will confirm employment dates, and in most cases that is about it.”
Bee staff writer Ken Carlson can be reached at kcarlson@modbee.com or 578-2321.
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